1. Statement of the Technical Field
The invention concerns communications systems. More particularly, the invention concerns a communications system having a transmitter configured to spread an input data signal over a wide intermediate frequency band, with a corresponding receiver to recover the input data from the spread transmitted signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Covert radio communication is desirable in some circumstances. Communications systems may be designed to have a low probability of detection (“LPD”), wherein the probability is made smaller that an unintended receiver can detect the presence of a communication signal. Communications systems also may be designed to have a low probability of interception (“LPI”), wherein the probability is made smaller that an unintended receiver can receive and decode the communications signal. Information can not be transmitted without transmitting energy over a channel. However, the LPI/LPD characteristics of communications can be enhanced by reducing the cyclostationarity and correspondingly spectral energy density of the communications signal.
It is well known in the art that LPI/LPD characteristics are enhanced by the introduction of a pseudo-noise (“PN”) chip sequence onto the transmitted waveform. The PN sequence is a deterministic sequence of +1 or −1, having a long period until it repeats, with the characteristic that sections of the PN sequence less than the whole sequence have the appearance of a random sequence of +1 or −1. The PN sequence operates to modulate the transmitted waveform at a rate that is higher than the information symbol rate of the transmitted waveform. The effect upon the transmitted spectrum is to convolve the spectrum of the PN signal with the spectrum of the modulated waveform prior to the PN sequence. Because the PN sequence is at a fast rate relative the modulation symbol rate, the spectrum of the PN-modulated signal is greatly spread, thus reducing the peak spectral energy and power spectral density per unit bandwidth.
Pseudorandom number generators (PRNG) generally utilize digital logic or a digital computer and one or more algorithms to generate a sequence of numbers. While the output of conventional PRNG may approximate some of the properties of random numbers, they are not truly random. Since the algorithms used for generating pseudorandom sequences are deterministic, such sequences will always be periodic.
Chaotic systems can generally be thought of as systems which vary unpredictably unless all of its properties are known. When measured or observed, chaotic systems do not reveal any discernible regularity or order. Chaotic systems are distinguished by a sensitive dependence on a set of initial conditions and by having an evolution through time and space that appears to be quite random. However, despite its “random” appearance, chaos is a deterministic evolution.
Practically speaking, chaotic signals are extracted from chaotic systems and have random-like, non-periodic properties that are generated deterministically and are distinguishable from pseudo-random signals generated using conventional PRNG devices. In general, a chaotic sequence is one in which the sequence is empirically indistinguishable from true randomness absent some knowledge regarding the algorithm which is generating the chaos.
Communications systems utilizing chaotic sequences offer promise for being the basis of a next generation of LPI/LPD waveforms, and secure waveforms. The transmitter and receiver in coherent chaos based communication systems are synchronized by exchanging state information over a data link. Such a synchronization process offers diminishing return because state information must be exchanged more often between the transmitter and the receiver to obtain a high data rate. This high data rate results in a faster relative drift. In effect, state information must be exchanged at an increased rate between the transmitter and receiver to counteract the faster relative drift. Although some analog chaotic communications systems employ a relatively efficient synchronization process, these chaotic communications systems still suffer from low throughput.
Information can not be transmitted without transmitting energy over a channel. Chaotic signals already have extremely robust LPI/LPD characteristics. The LPI/LPD characteristics can be improved further by increasing the perceived randomness of the transmitted signal, thereby reducing the peak spectral energy density. One way to reduce energy density is to increase the chaotic spreading ratio. However for a given symbol rate the spreading ratio can be limited by practical chaos generation rates.